Don't Stop Believing
by Dragonn
Summary: Months after Prince Mytho leaves with Rue, Fakir begins having nightmares. After several weeks of being tortured in his sleep, he leaves with Ahiru to visit his old friends. It is there that a new story is put in motion. Title inspired by Journey
1. Chapter 1

Okay. Before I post this story, a couple things.

To a CERTAIN SOMEONE (you know who you are…so there), I hereby forbid you to read this story until you watch all 26 episodes of Princess Tutu.

Reason being to the first (and this one goes to all)….there are going to be so many spoilers in this. If you haven't seen the ENTIRE series yet, please do so!

Updates will probably be fairly slow. I'm currently caught up in orchestra, Tae Kwon Do, and LOTS of homework. On top of that, it's extremely difficult for me to get to the computer right now unless I'm working on stuff for the upcoming art show at my school. So, until I get my own computer, the updates are going to be spaced out. If you don't like that, well, then, tough.

I'm going to try to make longer chapters in this story. I don't normally do this, but since I'm drafting my entries before hand this time (unlike some of my other writing, believe it or not) it should be doable.

And..yeah…that's all! The first chapter to this story should be posted within the week!

Dragonn


	2. Memory

_'Changing..._

_Changing..._

_Always changing since I met her..._

_..Why?'_

His eyes strained as images of Ahiru swirled in front of his eyes, from the duck who had come to comfort him to the clutzy ballet student who kept appearing in the wrong places to Princess Tutu who had worked so hard to gather all of Mytho's heart just for the sake of being able to see his smile. He became swallowed in the darkness of a nightmare, tossing and turning, lost in confusion. What was it that had made him come to like her? What, when he had had no trouble being cold to her before?

And, why was it now that he was lost in such spiraling chaos? Why now, that her face haunted his sleep, and when it disappeared his heart clenched with sorrow?

_"Fakir..."_

He remembered her voice, calling to him as the tree held him, engulfed him, became him.

_"Fakir..."_

The image faded into more darkness and he reached a shaky hand into the night, trying to grasp the image again. "Ahiru..." he mumbled softly before he finally settled into a restful slumber.

A little yellow duck sat on the foot of the bed, concernedly watching Fakir as he struggled with his dreams again. She wandered off the bed and reached the door as he mumbled her name. Stopping briefly to look back at him, she waddled out the little flap in the bottom of the door that Fakir had set in for her. She remembered his smile as he carved out the square of wood, measuring it to her height.

_"See, Ahiru? Now you have your own door, too. So, you don't always have to wait for me if you wish to come or go." _

There had been so much joy in his eyes back then. What was it now, anyway? Only a couple of weeks, really. _Poor Fakir..._

Her feet paddled the water of the lake, letting her drift through the tiny waves brought on by the night's cool breeze with ease. She looked down at her reflection, upset. She was sure Fakir must be weary of one-sided conversations with her. Every now and then it seemed they could communicate, but the moment was always gone before they knew it was there. _Poor Fakir..._ she sighed in a quiet "quaaaack..." that seemed to echo endlessly on.

The sun began to rise as Ahiru worked her way back inland. Fakir would be waking soon, and the last time she hadn't been there she had found him in a complete wreck. Chairs had been upturned and drawers pulled out as he sat in the middle, weeping. It had been truly depressing, especially when she realized that he was looking for her. This, of course, make her question what it was haunting him these past nights.

Light began to appear behind his eyelids and he clutched the pillow to his chest. He knew what it was he would see. He had seen it every night for the past two weeks. It was what caused dark circles to appear beneath his eyes. And yet, no matter how many time he saw it, the pain of it never went away. "Ahiru..." he mumbled as he braced himself for the nightmare.

"_QUAAAAACCCKKK!!!!!_" Ahiru screamed as she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, flapping her wings but afraid to fly. _Stupid cats!_ she thought as she scrambled up the steps to Fakir's door. "Quack Quack Quack Quack _QUAAAAAAAACK!!!!_"

He woke with a start at the raucous. Gathering his senses, he looked around, trying to capture the source. _What was that?_ He listened more intently, and then realized what was happening. "Dammit!" he mumbled before another desperate "Quack!!!" pierced through him. "Ahiruuu!!!" he called as he leaped from his bed and crossed the small cottage in a few frightened strides.

Ahiru quacked with fright as she zoomed through the flap, smacking into Fakir's leg. She looked up at him with terror-stricken eyes, quacking crazily until he picked her up and opened the door to see. Outside, there sat a dark-colored cat in preparation to pounce. His eyes looked hungrily up at Ahiru and he licked his lips expectantly. "Oh, no you don't," Fakir scowled at the cat. "You can have any other duck on the lake, but Ahiru's mine." He shut the door on the cat and placed the small duck back on his bed. Retrieving some bread from the kitchen, Fakir sat down beside her, feeding only a few crumbs at a time.

Ahiru ate silently, Fakir's words repeating over and over in her mind. _"Ahiru's mine..."_ There was something about those words that made her feel the happiest she'd felt since Fakir's nightmares had begun. It was as she came out of her thoughts that she realized Fakir has been placing bread crumbs ever closer to himself. She noticed his smile and climbed up on his leg for the last bread crumbs.

"I meant it, you know," Fakir spoke softly. "I'm not letting some cat eat you for its morning snack." He lifted Ahiru and gave her a small hug before getting himself dressed and walking them both out the door. "Come on. I think we need to get out of this town for a while. What do you think of going to visit Mytho and Rue?"

The idea thrilled Ahiru, and before too long, Fakir had managed to find a coach who's driver would allow a duck to ride. As he climbed in, he kept mumbling to himself about how stupid it was that no one would take a small duck, but they'd all been happy to take anteaters and alligators before. Soon enough, however, they were leaving Kinkan town. The mountains intrigued the two, neither of them having ever traveled so far before. They gazed out the window, but Fakir's mind soon wandered back to his dreams. He this excursion would release him from his terrors, and if not...well, at least he was able to see his friend for the first time in...months. Or was it weeks? Time felt so fast...and so slow all at once.

"Moron...it's stupid to worry over such stupid things," he cursed to himself under his breath, followed by a slight chuckle. "I guess I haven't changed all that much, have I?" he asked a little louder towards Ahiru.

She gazed up at him, her big blue eyes filled with worry. She thought back to their first meeting. Okay, maybe not quite a meeting. But their first encounter. She had tried to justify Mytho's injured leg by saying that he had just been protecting her. _"That's why it was meaningless,"_ he had told her as he walked away with Mytho. _You've changed more than you know, Fakir_ she quacked at him, causing a startled expression on his face.

Just when Fakir was regaining himself to try more communication with the duck, Rue was running out of the massive door of a great white castle with tall towers and spires. _I guess I'll never find out..._ he though as his face grew grim with grief. Though, he had to cheer up some when he caught sight of his old friends.

"Fakir!" Rue shouted over her shoulder. "Mytho, Fakir's come!" Her face with bright and happy, probably the happiest Fakir had seen her, or Ahiru for that matter. Mytho soon arrived beside his wife, the two clad in rather majestic clothing and smiling.

"Hello, Fakir," he said and looked down at what he was holding, "Tutu..."

There was a moment when all joy faded and the coach driver pulled away. The silence was filled of remembrance of what Ahiru used to be. The realization that Mytho never learned who it was behind the pretty clothing. Not that it really mattered, because even that face was false. The face Fakir wore at that instant must have sent out some sort of signal, because Rue quickly picked up the mess with a kind, "Why don't you two come in and join us in the garden! We have so much catching up to do!"

Several days went by in complete joy for Fakir. He hadn't had a single nightmare since he had left Kinkan Town and nothing had gone wrong. On top of that, he had finally gotten a chance to see Mytho and Rue again. He could finally walk around with a smile on his face. Not just an occasional grin or smirk, but an actual smile. Overall, he felt just plain good.

That is, until he realized one night that he'd been completely ignoring Ahiru. He had ignored her so much that, these past few days, he had completely forgotten she was there. He had promised to protect her and stay by her side, and now he didn't even know where she was! What if something had happened to her!? He sat down on the bed, about to puke when an image of a smirking cat with yellow feathers sticking out of his mouth caused him to break down.

She knew she had been ignored for most of the visit, but it hadn't really bugged her that much. After all, how much could a little duck do besides sit on the sidelines? Anyway, Fakir was happy again, Mytho and Rue were happy together, and this place was peaceful. No cats had tried to eat her, and every now and then one of the servants' children would give her a nice helping of tasty bread. Yep, everything was oka--

"AHIRRRUUU!!!!!" a troubled scream of desperation escaped from a window upstairs.She looked up to see chairs flying past the window, followed by a tear-stained Fakir leaning halfway out, scanning the grounds in the light of dusk for any sign of her. Ahiru pretended not to notice and took advantage of the outdoor silence to quack at an insect only inches from her bill. Hopefully, he would calm down with knowledge of her whereabouts.

Fakir heard the little duck and turned, running down step after step and flight after flight of stairs until he came out a small servants' door to the castle's courtyard. He slowed his step some and walked to Ahiru. There, he knelt down and took her in arms, hugging her close to him. Silence came over the two as Fakir closed his eyes, remembering the last time they had sat like this...it felt like ages ago...back before he had known that this yellow duck what the clumsy ballerina who had continually gotten in the way...

_"You again?...You know, you're seeing me in a pretty disgraceful state here...are you crying for me?"_

Tears streamed down his face as he hugged her tighter, afraid of the possible realization of his dreams. "I'm sorry, Ahiru. I'm sorry," he whispered softly down to her. And with that, he carried her up to his room, never letting go.

* * *

**Hiya! Oh, and I've decided I'm naming my chapters after songs! Kinda like in the series. Only, since I haven't seen that many ballets, there'll be some contemporary music ranging from classical to rock and everything else. Basically, whatever inspires me at the moment. This one wasn't really inspired by a song, actually. But I found that this seemed to fit, since it's filled with lots of flashbacks and thinking. haha...I think it's quite apparent that I've joined the Fakir Faction! '' **

**Oh! And I HAVE to give you some behind-the-scenes reasoning! Okay, so...just in case you found this chapter lacking in emotion or something, I blame Captain Jack (R.I.P. Captain Jack!!!! -cries- ) and his AMAZING song, "Only You" !!! You may even see something inspired by this song later because it's THAT addicting and amazing! haha...And I was listening to it. And when Fakir shouts "AHIRRRUU!!!" at Mytho's place, it matched up PERFECTLY with the "Only YOOOUUUUUU!!!!" hahahahaha...yeah. I just HAD to tell you, because it was too perfect!**

**Anyway, that is all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue reading as I post more!**

**Dragonn (-dances strangely off stage-)**


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